As my household library shifts from Brown Bear and Pig the Pug into Harry Potter, Unicorn Academy, and various heavy tomes about dinosaurs, there is one constant that remains, books about food, gardens, the outdoors. Things that in real life we can touch and taste and smell are still crave worthy on the page. Author Sarah M. White and illustrator Tessa Gibbs released their latest children’s book Our Food Grows (The Collective Book Studio 2025), which features the bounty still abundant at this season’s farmers markets. Through colorful collage-based illustrations, and a simple narrative that takes readers from seed to farm stand, Our Food Grows will become each parent's go-to for necessary stroller reading material at the grocery and beyond.
White’s background in education is evident as we go from strawberry to asparagus to corn, seeing how each small seed turns to something new and delicious of varying sizes and shapes. Children regale the uses for each ingredient in a palatable way for young minds. Alongside Gibbs colorful pops of contrasting hues and layers of textiles making each illustration seemingly grabbable, White’s tale will entice curious eaters and readers and even teach grown-ups a new bit of information. Who knew that unpicked asparagus grows into ferns?
There has never been a bad moment to teach children about where food comes from, to lure them to nature's bounty and away from the boxed ease of sugar and artificiality. Our Food Grows displays the beauty of a peas tendril, the satisfying snap of the rough ends of asparagus, and the silliness of corn on the cob-holders shaped like a dachshund – a page I revisited with a smile again and again as I read through. As only Midwesterners could, White and Gibbs, a duo that I hope returns, remove us from the plasticity of the world and bring us back to the dirt and the greatness that fields or a small patch of garden can give.
Our Food Grows is available wherever you purchase your books. Information about the book and the author and illustrator can be found at thecollectivebook.studio.
